Day: January 22, 2018

Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along with a now-nominal routine.

Generator (hours run): 15h 00min

Generator turned off, charging battery at 10h:00m

Generator turned on at 19h:30m

Solar— SOC

@ 08:38: 53%

@ 19:35: 43%

Diesel: It can’t be measure. Explained in the Report 19JAN2018

Propane: 92%

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 4.75 Gallons

Water (trailer): 0 Gallons

Water (static): 100 Gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used: Yes

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes

Water Meter: 01301216 Gallons

Toilet tank emptied: No

ATVs Used: 350(1), 350(2)

Oil Added? No

ATV Fuel Used: As a result of today’s EVA incident, I wasn’t able to check the final level of the fuel. Additionally, I don’t know exactly how to do it properly, but I can make an estimation. Tomorrow, before the EVA they will be refilled.

# Hours the ATVs were used today: 2h 40 min

Notes on ATVs: ATVs were nominal.

Deimos rover used: Yes

Hours: 102.3 h

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: –

Currently charging: Yes

Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.

Hours: Director discretional hours

Beginning charge:

Ending charge: –

Currently charging: Maybe

Spirit rover used: Yes

Hours: 12.7h

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: –

Currently charging: No

Opportunity rover used: Yes

Hours: 5.6h

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

Curiosity rover used: No

Hours: 39h

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: –

Currently charging: Yes

HabCar used and why, where? No

General notes and comments: Water heater was fixed; however, you have to open the pipe handle completely in order to the water heater to work. Kinda stressful because our critical resource is water. It will be great if this issue can be fix. The lower deck heater is now operating.

Summary of internet: All nominal

Summary of suits and radios: All nominal

Summary of Hab operations: Today a water filter was installed in the water loft.

Summary of EVA operations: During the EVA of today, the battery level of Deimos rover dropped suddenly from 71% to 26% in just 5 mins. Due to this, we had to tow the rover with a ATV until the Hab.

Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal

Summary of Science Dome operations: All nominal

Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational

Summary of health and safety issues: All nominal

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Today the water heater was fixed but a lot of water was wasted to do that (testing and fixing), that’s the reason that today we have just 100 Gallons of water; please, we will need a refill of this. During the towing process the jumping cables were broke, We need a new pair of this.

With a quiet morning, the Sun 10 began, breakfast of sugary cereal and orange flavored drinks. Then some Martians disguised specialists in terrestrial habitats visited us to take charge of matters related to failed systems. It seems that from today our vital fluid will be safer and more reliable. Showers with hot water will be possible now.

Four of our bravest crew went out in search of the conquest of Mars aboard two rovers. An hour later the radios announced their return, in the habitat we worried. A rover’s battery failed and the cold froze the astronauts’ hands.

After the change of vehicle and warm up better they headed towards Copernicus Highway. Upon his arrival, amazement shinned their eyes. Wherever we go, we are the first to be there. It is the thought that unite our four crew members after traveling to the adventure to know and carry out their investigations. Result: a planetary wonder.

What did they find? A prehistoric land that surrounded in the four cardinal points like being in the middle of a red sea and that as in the movies that we watched in the big screen a dinosaur could appear in the middle of the canyons. Adrenaline and pure emotion.

Meanwhile the habitat consisted of one day of cleaning and inventory of surplus food for the remaining days on Mars. After climbing up and down the wooden stairs we have become accustomed to the feeling of living in a tree house as we did in our childhood.

But the adventure of our explorers did not end there until much later. On the way back another of the rovers consumed his battery until almost totally static. Fortunately we have a prepared and alert crew that managed to reach our home. Although the final result was positive, the road took more than two hours and consumed its energy and heat.

To get home they used brute force and ingenuity between tying ropes, cables, almost flags and pushing flags. Within five minutes of entering the habitat, they were rescued by the Station Director and finally returned safely.

We received them with scarves, sweaters, blankets and hot chocolate with marshmallows. History and enthusiasm have distracted us a lot of time tonight, but luckily we are all together and excited to continue exploring our red earth. There is no doubt that what makes us human, friendship, companionship and love is what will always get us out of trouble, here, there and on any planet, with faith.

Today we decided to wake up in order to rest for the EVA of today. Every Martian woke up in different hours. The majority of them were taking a breakfast at 08:15, but there is always someone who falls asleep and gets up late, at 9:30, and woke up only by the noise that made two earthlings who visited our home on Mars to fix the water heater and water filter. Due to this, 130 gallons of water were used today… Earth, we need more water to survive on Mars!

In the morning, Oscar was working in the programing phase of his project, and in the afternoon his rover was tested inside the tunnels. It’s magic how the rover can move through rocks, sands and can climb the tunnel’s walls. David and I were working in our projects in the Greenhab. Moreover, Atila is trying to fix the Science Dom’s door. At 10:35, every Martian were in the upper deck to help each other to prepare for the EVA of today. At 12:00, David, Atila, Luis and Danton were in the airlock ready for their adventure. However, at 12:47 Hab copied a radio signal from the Martian explorers. Due to the fact that Opportunity charger was getting down fast; in 18 minutes the battery got down more than 10% arriving until 64%. And prioritizing the safety of the crew’s members, it was decided to come back to the Hab. The decision taking was that the explorers got inside the Hab, ate a lunch, warmed up, and started again the EVA. Oscar cooked very quickly eggs with cheese for the Martian explorers of the day. For the second excursion, Deimos and two 350 ATV were being used. In the afternoon, Tania, Oscar and I cleaned the Kitchen and did a food inventory. We found some interesting food that we can eat in the following days. At 16:45 Hab didn’t know anything about the Martian explorers and we started to worry about it. At 16:56, Hab copied the first radio signal and we realized that every Martian was ok but something happened. At 14:50, the Martian explorers arrived to Copernicus Hwy. The Martians described the view as the best landscape that they have ever seen in their lives. At 13:50, the Martian explorers were ready to come back to home. At 16:45 Deimos stoped and the Martian worked together using jumping cables to tow Deimos, that’s why they arrived to Hab at 18:20. At 17:45, Shannon found the Martian explorers and helped them to solve the problem.

The day was a really crazy day… but come on! We are on Mars! We are Martians! And the important thing is that we knew how to solve it!

Ad Astra,

Cynthia Fuertes Panizo

Commander Crew 187 – MDRS

Look Ahead Plan:

We hope to have another adventure for tomorrow… We are going to Lith Canyon! The lucky Martians are Oscar, Tania, Cynthia and Danton.

Narrative: Today was the first long range EVA undertaken by the crew, and it was an eventful one, fortunately with a very happy ending. It is important to say that the temperature was a challenging element for the crew. The EVA started at 12:00 with the egress of the crew of four of the airlock. By pairs they boarded the two rovers and departed north by Cow Dung road, however, by the rapid discharge of the opportunity rover, the crew returned to the hab to rest, eat something, and take two ATVs instead of Opportunity. The EVA was resumed at 13:30 with a new egress of the crew, this time boarding Deimos and the 1 and 2 350 ATVs. The crew departed north until the north of Copernicus Hw, where they left the vehicles and started walking at 14:50. The crew walked about 15 minutes to a valley(38° 27.448N 110° 48.031W) and stayed there for about 5 minutes, where they took the route back, taking relevant samples in the way, as well as aerial footage(38° 27.0021N 110°48.565W). There were a lot of hervibore prints as well. While on Brahe Hwy the battery meter of Deimos suddenly started dropping fast, taking about 5 minutes to go from 71% to 26% charge, as reported by the Engineering officer. The crew decided to switch positions to reduce the weight, and kept going, however the charge kept dropping. The crew decided to walk along the vehicle, and afterwards to push it. The crew followed this procedure for 50 minutes. Afterwards they took the jumping cables (for battery charging) and pulled the rover with one of the ATVs until they were in sight of the crew in the hab. Unfortunately, the cables broke, and it was impossible to pull the rover further. At that point the crew was already 45 minutes above the closing time of the EVA window, and director Shannon went out to help them. The crew broke simulation, towed and pushed the rover up to the habitat and made an ingress to the hab, out of sim.

They were greeted with hot cocoa and blankets by the rest of the crew, who were happy to see them again.

About The MDRS

The Mars Desert Research Station in the Utah desert was established by the Mars Society in 2001 to better educate researchers, students and the general public about how humans can survive on the Red Planet. It is the second Mars analogue habitat after the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station was established in 2000.

Over 181 crews of six-person teams have lived in two week field visits at MDRS to simulate life on the Martian surface. Researchers and students alike have explored the Mars-like terrain in the area surrounding the station in full “spacesuits”, maintained the station’s systems, grown plants in the GreenHab to support themselves and even recycled their waste water.

Our activities at MDRS are not only about informing the public, but also conducting real research to bring humanity that much closer to the reality of human exploration on the planet Mars.

Annual field seasons at MDRS run approx. October through May. Anybody can apply to be on a crew, and we also need volunteers to help with the project.